The implementation of facial recognition systems is not included in the nineteen measures of the bill relating to the Olympic and Paralympic Games that the Senate will examine in public session from Tuesday, January 24. The government ruled out this option, considered by some, initially opting for experimentation with “artificial intelligence” devices, namely video surveillance cameras and drones equipped with algorithms to automatically identify “predetermined events”.
The subject of facial recognition nevertheless came on the table during the examination of the text in the Senate law committee, Wednesday, January 18, because some senators did not give up opening the debate and moving forward on this question. It is in this case Marc-Philippe Daubresse who laid down the terms, through an amendment.
No wonder, Senator Les Républicains is one of the co-editors, with Arnaud de Belenet (Centrist Union) and Jérôme Durain (Socialist Party), of an information report on biometric recognition, published in May 2022 However, when presenting his amendment, Mr. Daubresse immediately warned that he would withdraw it. What he did. While announcing that he intends to reformulate his proposal “in a bill”.
“During the examination of the Lopmi [loi d’orientation et de programmation du ministère de l’intérieur], I had told the Minister of the Interior that the use of video surveillance, artificial intelligence and biometric recognition should be the subject of a debate within the framework of the examination of a bill and not at the bend of amendments”he justified.
“Working to develop a balanced system”
“We cannot introduce such heavy provisions into the law by means of amendments to a text which concerns the Olympic and Paralympic Games.s »approved Jérôme Durain, when Arnaud de Belenet pleaded for “a preliminary debate, favoring a pedagogical, global and singular approach” before establishing “an appropriate legal framework”. “You have to reflect and not put the subject under the carpet”supported Agnès Canayer (Les Républicains), rapporteur on the bill.
During a hearing by senators on October 25, 2022, Gérarld Darmain had officially declared that he was not in favor of the implementation of facial recognition, stressing that it is“a tool which is a choice of society and which involves a share of risk”. He had added: “ I believe that we do not have the means to guarantee that this tool will not be used against citizens under another regime. »
“It is technically complicated to implement such a device, so it would be better to provide a specific text”argued, Wednesday, Mr. Daubresse, while emphasizing that it will be necessary “provide for an experimentation law in order to precisely define the fields of application and to set up not only administrative control, but also parliamentary control, and in which the CNIL will also have a part”.
“It seems essential to me to have a specific text”, approved François-Noël Buffet, the president (Les Républicains) of the law commission, who invites “develop a balanced system, without falling into an unacceptable excess which would be to want to identify everyone, nor in a no man’s land, that is to say doing nothing despite a real and identified risk”.